Atiku, Kwankwaso, Amaechi, Others Consider PDP Return

The victory of the Makarfi-led PDP faction
at the Supreme Court recent is set to
cause a change in political formation with
some APC bigwigs being lured to the
opposition party.

Emboldened by last Wednesday’s judgment
of the Supreme Court, which settled the
leadership tussle within the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP), some former
members of the party are set to quit the
ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and
return to the umbrella-symbolled party.
Indications to this effect became rife on
Thursday night when Saturday Telegraph
got wind of a meeting holding between
some bigwigs within the PDP and some of
their former colleagues, who are now in the
APC. A further probe by correspondents
however revealed that the meeting involved
some former members of the group that
what was then known as the newPDP, who
defected to the APC in the wake of the 2015
general elections.
Sources within both parties confirmed that
the Supreme Court ruling, which confirmed
the leadership of the PDP on the Senator
Ahmed Makarfi led faction, might have
buoyed the defectors to conclude a plan to
return to the PDP.
Ex-nPDP leaders in talks with former party
Investigations by our correspondents
however revealed that there had been series
of meetings between some of the defunct
nPDP and APC members, who had been
awaiting the verdict of the apex court. One
of the sources informed that some of the
defectors, who in 2013, formed what was
then known as the newPDP, are the major
players in the current move, while not ruling
out the possibility of new entrants from
some of the parties that formed the APC.
“Don’t you know them? They are from the
second PDP. Have you forgotten them? They
called themselves the newPDP at that time.
They had been meeting before the ruling, it
is certain that some of them will go back.
“This is the judgment they had been waiting
for. It could have been different if the
judgment had gone the other way.
Some of them had said openly that they
cannot work with Senator Ali Modu-Sheriff,
but with the victory given to the Makarfi
group, you can expect majority of them to
go back to their vomit. “You need to see
how they were dancing as if it was their
party that won the court case. It is obvious
that their hearts are still with the PDP.
They are just waiting for the right excuse to
use and return to the PDP”, he said. The
Supreme Court had in its judgment affirmed
that the PDP leadership led by the party’s
caretaker committee’s chairman, Ahmed
Makarfi, was the authentic faction of the
party.
However, feelers within the party last night
revealed that former Vice-President Atiku
Abubakar, former Kano State Governor,
Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso and the Minister
of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, might be
among those considering a return to the
PDP. But one of the sources was quick to
exonerate the former Rivers State Governor
from the clandestine moves to jettison the
ruling party, saying, “except for people like
Amaechi, who are serving, and who you
don’t expect to quit the cabinet, most nPDP
members will go back ‘home’, where they
belong”, he said.
Another highly placed party member, who is
in the know of the latest twist, told this
newspaper that most, if not all the members
of the nPDP may be on their way back to the
PDP. The source, who was not categorical
when such movement would be, however,
insisted that the need to return to the party
was necessary considering the fact that the
judgment had given hope for a fresh PDP
emerging from the rubbles of a crisis-ridden
party. According to the female source, the
rebirth is coming at a time when the APC
was no longer living up to its billing in
meeting the socio-political and economic
yearnings of Nigerians. She said: “As you
can see, the Supreme Court judgment has
thrown up so many things.
From all indications, a lot of realignment and
counter-realignment will begin to emerge to
shape the countdown to 2019. “Don’t be
surprised when you begin to see the return
of our nPDP members who went to APC. Yes,
I can tell you that they are already thinking
of a return and this will definitely happen.
This I know.”
The big madam’, as she is fondly called was
of the opinion that the restructuring agenda
being propagated by Atiku, is one major
reason that the former VP would return to
the PDP, insisting that he can’t achieve his
aim of restructuring Nigeria in the APC.
“Atiku can never be in the APC and still be
talking of restructuring. He can’t achieve that
in the party,

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